COVID-19: Shehu Sani Charges US, Russia, Iran, Saudi and Israel to sheath their swords

Trump -Putin

As the covid-19 continues its ferocious spreading, submerging nations of the globe under its hard tolling hands and controls, a Nigerian Senator who represented the Kaduna central in the 8th NASS has called on United States to lift all Sanctions against Iran while also asking Tehran to abandon its Nuke program as the virus bits harder.

Aside a terrifying pandemic that has overwhelmed entire cities in Iran and now looms over the United States, the crisis and war threats between the two countries that began when the Trump administration exited the 2015 Iran nuclear deal shows no sign of abating.

Also, Senator Sani in a tweet asked Saudi Arabia to lift its blockade against Qatar and declare a ceasefire in Yemen, where the kingdom has been leading a coalition forces against the Houthi rebels.

The 8th NASS member asked the Israeli government to end the siege on Gaza where violence has become an incessant order of the days in the region.

Sani

Sani asked the US to end trade barriers against China and requested Russia to end Idlib crisis in Syria.

@ShehuSani
Because of #coronavirus,the US should lift all Sanctions against Iran,Saudi should lift its blockade against Qatar & declare a ceasefire in Yemen,Israel should end the Siege on Gaza,US should lift trade barriers against China,Iran should end nuke & Russia should end Idlib.

Outside China, Iran has been the most and worst hit by virus in the middle-east, becomes the first country to loss top government officers to the COVID-19 which the World Health Organisation has since declared to be a world pandemic.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday said the Tehran fight against the coronavirus was being "severely hampered" by U.S. sanctions, as state television reported that the death toll from the illness rose on the same day to 611, up nearly 100 from a day earlier making the country to be the second among the three worst hit by the virus outside China where the virus was first discovered late last year.

President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on vital Iranian sectors including oil after withdrawing the US from the 2015 Iran's nuclear deal with six world powers, hoping that the sanctions will limit Tehran's ballistic missile programme and influence across the Middle East. Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and its missiles are for deterrence and defensive purposes.

The effects of the sanctions have made the fight against the Coronavirus in Iran nearly impossible as members of Iranian parliament, the Majlis, a former diplomat and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, have died of the virus. Iranians are believed to be among the most numerous victims of the Coronavirus which the WHO has declared a pandemic health issue.

Another Khamenei adviser and one of the most powerful voices in Iranian foreign policy, Ali Akbar Velayati, was reported on Thursday to have been infected. Italy, Iran and South Korea are the worst hit outside China currently. The number of confirmed cases stood at 12,792  as of Saturday 14th March in Iran.

Before the Covid-19, Iran was struggling to cope with the consequences of American sanctions. It is in even worse shape today. While Trump seems ill-prepared for the social and economic upheaval that will accompany a major pandemic on U.S. soil. It doesn’t seem like much to ask that U.S. and Iranian leaders postpone their score-settling until the Coronavirus pandemic threat that faces us all can be brought under control.

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has surged past 5,000 on Saturday with the total number of cases rising to more than 140,000, as the infection continues to prompt countries to take unprecedented measures to help stave off a global health crisis while many new countries and territories are confirming the cases of the COVID-19 in their domain. The same position here are applicable to Israeli/Gaza unrest, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar to sheath their swords in this global trying time.

Persian State media said Rouhani wrote to a number of world leaders, without naming them. "This virus knows no boundary and claims victims without political, religious, ethnic, and racial considerations," he wrote.

"In (a) letter to counterparts @HassanRouhani informs how efforts to fight #COVID19 pandemic in Iran have been severely hampered by US sanctions, urging them to cease observing them," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

"It is IMMORAL to let a bully kill innocents," Zarif said.

Iran, the worst-affected country in the Middle East, said on Thursday it had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The escalating outbreak has damaged Iranian businesses and is bound to hit its non-oil exports after many neighbouring countries and trade partners shut their borders.

On the Idlib crisis in Syria where the Russian backed Syrian Arab Army (SAA) have been aggressive since December 2019 in their bids to restore the Syria's statehood, Russia and Turkey have reach a ceasefire and a joint patrol team of Russian-Turkish military have been formed and fully operational since Saturday.